World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

■ United StatesKamm wins MacArthur grant

Businessman-turned-rights lobbyist John Kamm was one of 24 people awarded US$500,000 MacArthur Foundation grants on Tues-day. Kamm, 53, was a suc-cessful businessman and a president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong when he sud-denly veered off career course to become a highly successful, champion of Chinese political detainees. His conversion was triggered by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Kamm has succeeded in securing the release or improving the conditions of hundreds of jailed political activists, including some extremely high-profile dissidents. Kamm said he would use the prize to further the lobbying work of his San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation.

■ Hong Kong

Yeoh to marry Ferrari man

Action star and former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh is to marry Ferrari motor racing team boss Jean Todt, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. The glamorous couple let the secret out of the bag at a star-studded event in the territory on Tuesday when Todt revealed he had pro-posed to the former beauty queen, the newspaper reported. "I proposed to her and now we are engaged," the 58-year old Frenchman was quoted as saying. The pair have had a whirlwind romance since meeting at a Ferrari event in Shanghai in June. They were introduced by Yeoh's former boyfriend of four years, movie pro-ducer Thomas Chung. The two were together in Shang-hai last weekend during the Chinese Grand Prix.

■ New Zealand

Alleged spies deported

Two men the government labeled Israeli Mossad spies were deported yesterday after spending three months in jail. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed the deportation of Eli Cara, 50, and Uri Kelman, 30. She added that there had been no contact from the Israeli government about the two men's part in a conspir-acy to illegally obtain a New Zealand passport. The crime was discovered after an official discovered that a passport application had been made in the name of a cerebral palsy sufferer who could not travel. Police arrested Cara and Kellman after the passport was delivered to them. The pair served three months of their six-month jail sentence after being given the maximum remission for good behavior.

■ Hong Kong

Ho seeks LegCo presidency

Democrats have launched a fresh effort to boost their limited standing in the 60-seat Legislative Council (LegCo) by nominating a candidate for the chamber's powerful presidency. Demo-cratic Party vice-chairman Albert Ho (何俊仁) has put his name forward to challenge the incumbent, Legislator Rita Fan (范徐麗泰), a staunch supporter of the government. The LegCo president has wide powers to set the legislative agenda and reserves the right to veto bill proposals from legislators.

■ China

No. 1 hitman to die

A contract killer known as Hitman No 1 who murdered nine people, including a friend whose head and hands he boiled after cutting up the body, has been sentenced to death, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Businessmen hired Tu Guiwu, 37, to eliminate competitors in and around Chengdu, Xinhua said. Tu said he had felt unsettled after the killings. "However, watching TV and playing computer games helped me calm down," he was quoted as saying.

■ Russia`Two held in editor's killing

Police in Moscow have detained two Chechen men on suspicion they were involved in the killing of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, the city police chief Vladimir Pronin said on Tuesday. Police seized three guns from the two Chechen men detained overnight, Pronin told the Interfax news agency. He said that the pair had kidnapped an unidentified person prior to the killing of Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition. Klebnikov was gunned down July 9 outside the magazine's office in Moscow. Klebnikov's killing compounded concerns about the safety of journalists in Russia.